Weekly Update January 6 – Tet

Happy New Year!!! Tim and I hope you are having a fantastic winter break with friends and family or maybe just recharging on your own for the last few weeks. Semester two is just around the corner and Tet Break. This will be year of the Rat. Hold on tight we are halfway to summer.

See you all soon,
Jacob

Monday, January 6
Professional Development Day- No students
8:00-8:30 Breakfast (Auditorium)
8:30-9:00 New Year’s Message- Catriona (Auditorium)
9:00-4:00 Individual, team, department time (various)
9:00-4:00 Portrait of a Graduate Group (Auditorium)

Tuesday, January 7
Day 1- ABCD
Jacob gone in the afternoon
HSLT Meeting, 3:15-4:45 (HS Conference Room) Agenda Here

Wednesday, January 8
Day 2- EFGH
Jacob gone
HS Divisional Meeting, 3:15-4:30 (MPR) Advisory Groups

Thursday, January 9
Day 3- BCDA
Jacob gone
Advisory Schedule

Friday, January 10
Day 4- FGHE
Jacob gone

Monday, January 13
Day 5- CDAB
Jacob gone
Advisory Schedule

Tuesday, January 14
Day 6- GHEF
Jacob gone

Wednesday, January 15
Day 7 DABC
Jacob gone
Flansburgh Architects on Campus
All School PD Meeting, 3:15-4:30 (TBD)

Thursday, January 16
Day 8- HEFG
Advisory Schedule
Jacob gone
Flansburgh Architects on Campus

Friday, January 17
Day 1- ABCD
Jacob gone
Flansburgh Architects on Campus

Saturday, January 18
Vietnam’s First VEX Robotics Competition, 9:00am-3:00pm (HS Gym)

Monday, January 20
Day 2- EFGH
Advisory Schedule

Tuesday, January 21
Day 3- BCDA
Dragon Dance, 1:45-3:00 (Grass Field) Special Schedule
Tet Break Begins, 3:00

On the Horizon

• Tet Dragon Dance, January 21 1:45-3:00
• Tet Break, January 22-28
• Early Release PD Day, February 4
• SEASAC Tournaments (Arts, BB & Tennis), February 6-9
• PTA International Day, February 8

Staff Action Needed

• Check out the IB section of the Dragon’s Lair for Jeff’s debut TOK blog post!
• Need more time for unit documentation? Complete this form
• Read the all school Wellness Blog from the WELL Core Team
• Review Check important dates that impact instruction here
• Send a kudos to a colleague

January 8 Faculty Meeting– The majority of this meeting is devoted to grade level teams led by your deans. Your grade level dean will share the meeting location with you. From 4-4:30 all of the faculty across the school will meet in the Auditorium to receive professional development in regards to suicide ideation and prevention.

Jacob Out of the Building– I will be out of the country during a majority of the time between winter break and Tet. I WILL be at SSIS on January 6, the morning of January 7 and will not return until January 20 due to my personal recruitment. The remainder of the days I will be out of the country and likely unable to respond quickly to most concerns. After Tet break, things should return to normal. Tim will be acting principal in my absence and will handle all immediate decisions. I am indebted to Huyen, Tram and Tim for their support of the HS office in my absence.

Tripod Survey Reflection Meetings– The results from the Tripod Surveys have been shared with you.  There are a few things that will be useful to you for when you review your feedback.  Tripod Reflection Protocol: This is created by Tripod and will be especially helpful for those who have never done a Tripod survey before.  The information is valuable and there is a reflection worksheet you could use.  Here is a shorter reflection form that we used few couple of years (you’ll need to make a copy).  If you want to use this one, we recommend using it in conjunction with the information in the Tripod Reflection Protocol.  Here are  2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20 Divisional Results for comparison.   As you can see our division results have significant increased in every category.  Great work all!  Huyen and Tram will schedule a 20 minute meeting with each of you to talk about your analysis and reflection on the data after Tet break due to Jacob’s absences.  Please review your data and complete the short reflection form before the scheduled meeting with Tim or Jacob.

Pre Tet Absences– Be aware of short amount of time between our winter and Tet breaks this year. We will likely have a number of families that will leave to their hometowns before Tet break officially begins. Additionally, it would not be wise to assign any major assessments or projects that might be due on January 20 and 21.

Flansburgh Architects January 15-17– Be aware the architect team will be returning on these dates. You or some students may be asked to provide feedback.

VEX Vietnam– Come out and support the country’s first ever VEX competition hosted right here at SSIS on January 18 from 9:00am to 3:00pm. This has been a huge initiative years in the making from Evan and his robotics students. The winner of this competition will earn a bid to the VEX World Championships later in the year. Stop by for a bit to check things out and support our students/coaches.